South Korea: South Koreans drink less beer in H1 than in the same period in 2013

The amount of alcohol consumed by South Koreans is decreasing, with fruit-flavored soft alcohol gaining in popularity, government data showed on August 26.

According to the report released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which surveyed 2,000 Koreans aged 15 or over, Koreans on average drank 4.9 cups of beer (about two pints) and 6.1 shots of soju, a popular grain-based liquor, at a time in the first half of this year.

These findings are a slight decrease compared to 2013 when the average beer intake was 5.6 cups and 6.4 shots of soju per person.

The intake of fruit-based drinks with low alcohol content rose from 2.2 shots per person to 6 shots on the back of growing popularity of lighter alcoholic drinks.

Since early last year, leading alcohol manufacturers such as Lotte Chilsung and its rival Muhak have rolled out a series of fruity soju products containing 14 percent alcohol, which is lower than the usual 20 percent.

The proportion of heavy drinkers also fell, which the ministry saw as an indicator of the social move towards a healthy drinking culture.

Of the surveyed, 58.3 percent showed a pattern of high-risk alcohol consumption by downing more than 8.8 shots of soju for men and 5.9 shots for women, a drop from 82.5 percent in 2013.

While 55.8 percent of the surveyed said that they drank “soju bombs,” soju mixed with beer, in 2013 the figure shrank to 45.7 percent this year.

The report also showed that men drink 7.3 shots of soju and 5.6 cups of beer at a time, while women consume 4.2 shots of soju and 4.5 cups of beer.

In South Korea, drinking is considered crucial part of social life to bond with friends and colleagues. It is notoriously the biggest consumer of hard liquor in the world, downing 13.7 shots of liquor per week on average, according to data released by Euromonitor in 2014.

21 August, 2016